Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
“Just the kindest person”

“Just the kindest person”

Last updated on: December 13, 2019 at 1:21 am by Dan Peterson

“Just the kindest person” 2019-12-13T01:21:46-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bill Hamblin, Mary Thompson Vogwell, and a young man who is known to them but not to me, during one of Bill’s visits to England. Photo courtesy of Mary Thompson Vogwell.

With their kind permission, I share tributes to my friend Bill Hamblin from two unique angles. They bear witness to the real Bill Hamblin — the Bill Hamblin that I and others knew — who, though he didn’t shy away from defending what he believed, was never the horrific bogeyman that some critics have imagined him to be. The first of these tributes comes from Don Bradley, who is, among other things, the author of a very important recent book and of a recent article in Interpreter that was drawn from that book. Some salient elements of his autobiography will be apparent in what he says below:

My perspective on Bill is informed by experience of him first when I was a critic of the church who sparred with him and then as a new re-convert to the church.

I learned of his death tonight and was just reflecting on a message board largely dominated by self-identified critics, on my experience with Bill. I used to have a pretty negative view of him, as I think critics mostly do. But a lot of experience changed that view. Here are the reflections on Bill I posted there, that I hope will open a few eyes, as mine have been opened.

Over a decade ago, when I was very active online in critiquing Latter-day Saint apologetics (and, to a lesser, extent truth claims), I made some posts criticizing the the NHM/Nahom find as evidence for the Book of Mormon. Dan Peterson and Bill Hamblin both participated in the discussion. One of my arguments, it turned out, depended on assumptions about Semitic languages that were quite false.

I’d recently had a private conversation with Dan Peterson when I ran into him at the BYU library, and I think he knew from that conversation that I was quite sincere in my search for truth. Rather than simply trounce me in refuting the point I’d been trying to make in ignorance of Semitic languages, Dan and Bill both, in an evident spirit of helpfulness, provided further information about how Semitic languages actually work, explaining this “for non-Semiticists”–i.e., in this case, me.

A couple years later, in a transition that surprised no one more than it did me, I returned to the church. When I did, I was in no doubt that this was the right thing for me to do. I was also terrified. One of things I worried about was whether other members of the church would actually *accept me. I had been pretty public in my criticisms across several years. And in my extensive digging into Mormon history I’d developed a lot of very novel and idiosyncratic views.*

Not long after this, I arranged lunch with Dan Peterson and Bill Hamblin. I had new findings on the First Vision, part of what had triggered my return to the church, that I wanted to share. Dan wasn’t able to stay very long that day, so I mostly laid out my findings to Bill. The primary context I used for the First Vision in that conversation was 19th century Freemasonry. For those who don’t know, Bill Hamblin had built a reputation as the most strident critic of various claims that early Mormonism drew on esoteric traditions available in the 19th century. (See, for instance, his review of Quinn’s Early Mormonism and the Magic World View.) Yet it was exactly this kind of material that I was using to frame my analysis of the First Vision. I went into the conversation sweating bullets–would Bill Hamblin think my ideas were crazy, or, worse, apostate?

Bill *loved what I laid out. He spent *a few hours talking with me and exploring ideas. He had tons of ideas that he generously contributed, which I took copious notes on. He seemed to love exploring new ideas not only about this but also about various aspects of the Book of Mormon. To help my work, he promised me a copy of his new book on Solomon’s temple, which he later gave me.**

If I had worried about being accepted back into the church, and worried that the ideas I wanted to contribute were too “out there” for the supposedly ideologically conservative old guard of Mormon apologetics, Bill Hamblin helped lay all those fears to rest.

While Bill certainly earned his reputation for being dogged and even pugnacious in engaging critics, this was one, and it turns out one rather small, aspect of the man.

The column that Dan Peterson and Bill wrote about world religions demonstrates this in spades. One would be hard-pressed to find devout adherents to one religion who are as respectful, as generous, and as willing to see the divine in other religions as Dan and Bill were in those columns. Their outlook was quasi-universalist, and their respect and generosity extended “even” toward Islam, although it is a faith that tends to come in for strident rejection among believing Christians.

How do I reconcile that Bill Hamblin could be quite pugnacious with critics of Mormonism while also being pretty kind and helpful with this particular critic when I argued against the NHM evidence, and with his openness to new ideas and his universal respect for the faiths of others? When he could see that I was sincere in my seeking, that seemed to make all the difference in the world, *even when I had come to very different conclusions from him and was criticizing his own truth claims*. Having read his fiery polemics, that isn’t what I would have expected, nor would have I expected his openness to my use of Freemasonry in understanding Mormonism, nor his obvious openness to other faiths.

Clearly, I had misunderstood the man.

In retrospect I have to wonder if part of what was going on was that, having given respect *to the faiths of others, Bill Hamblin expected that same kind of respect for his faith *from others.**

That’s not going to be the whole story. We human beings are complicated creatures, and Bill Hamblin was certainly no exception.

Yet, whatever quirks dominated my perception of Bill in my critic days, the facts that he could see beyond my criticisms ten-plus years ago to my fundamental sincerity, that he could be open to ideas I would have expected him to find wild, and that he overwhelmingly epitomized respect for others’ faith, show a man many, many times bigger than the perceptions of his sometime sparring partners.

This experience makes me wonder how much we all tend to misjudge one another based on rather superficial interactions on the Internet. I’m glad I got to see way beyond all that and get to know a big-hearted person in William Hamblin.

The second perspective comes from Mary Thompson Vogwell in Great Britain. I hope that Sister Vogwell will not mind my describing her as a former missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who, while not unfriendly, has been disaffected from the Church and skeptical of its claims for some years now. This, though, is what she said:

Just wanted to publicly honour Bill (Prof. William Hamblin from BYU). I was a questioner on all things Mormon History, and rather than condemn or judge me, he was happy to meet me, have lunch and was just the kindest person.

Mary Thompson Vogwell

William

Previous Post

December 12, 2019

Is genuine knowledge possible outside of science?

Next Post

December 13, 2019 "Conclusions in Search of Evidence"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How old was Moses when he died?

Select your answer to see how you score.

90 years 100 years 120 years 110 years